The Board has remanded the case due to new regulations and missing records, requiring further development of the claims.
The deciding factor: The decision is pending further development as required by the VCAA.
- Claimed conditions
- nicotine addiction, aggravation of malaria due to tobacco use during service, emphysema due to tobacco use during service, coronary artery disease due to tobacco use during service, peripheral vascular disease due to tobacco use during service
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- September 10, 2001
- Citation
- 0122224
This is a plain-language summary generated by AI from a public Board of Veterans’ Appeals decision. It can contain errors — always verify against the original. Search VA.gov for the original decision (opens in a new tab) using citation 0122224.
What this means for you
A remand sends an issue back for more development, often a new examination or missing records. It does not award the benefit or decide the final outcome. The original decision explains the additional work ordered.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Dismissed
The appeal concerning the issues of COPD and nicotine addiction is dismissed. The Veteran's service connection for COPD was granted, but the appeal for nicotine addiction is denied as it is not a compensable disability.
- Partly granted
The Board has determined that the January 1999 rating decision granting service connection for nicotine addiction and chronic bronchitis was not clearly and unmistakably erroneous, and thus severed service connection for those disabilities in December 2000. The veteran's heart disease is found to be proximately due to his service-connected nicotine addiction.
- Denied
The Board found no evidence of a lung disorder or nicotine addiction during service, and the veteran's long-term smoking history post-service is more likely to have caused his current pulmonary problems.
- Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claims for increased ratings and service connection, finding that his hepatitis B is not manifested by symptoms warranting a compensable rating under either the former or revised rating criteria. The issues of nicotine addiction and bronchitis with chronic cough were also denied.
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